


Civilized Warfare

by misura



Category: Stargate Universe
Genre: Chess, Gen, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-25
Updated: 2012-11-25
Packaged: 2017-11-28 21:06:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/678887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rush and Young and chess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Civilized Warfare

There's a word, a perfectly good word, to describe other people.

Two words, if you're being mathematically correct.

 

In the matter of chess, at least, Colonel Young proves graceful in defeat. Mostly.

"That makes it, what? Six times in a row now?"

"Seven," Rush says. It's not particularly stimulating to play against Young, but it serves to build a pretense of friendship. Young is quiet when he thinks, which is a blessing, also. It means they can spend a quite considerable amount of time in each other's company.

"All right. Shoot."

"I beg your pardon?"

Young sighs. A hint of frustration there, at last. "What am I doing wrong?"

"You're simply not as skilled a player," Rush says lightly. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Too blatant, that one, perhaps. "You mean it's some sort of perceived character flaw you intend to use against me later."

"I wouldn't say _that_." Obviously, he wouldn't. "We're all friends now, aren't we?" _For the sake of the crew._ As if Rush could be bothered to care about some bunch of misfit strangers who may very well cause irreparable damage to _Destiny_ , assuming they haven't done so already.

Now that he's found the bridge, he _needs_ some of them, true. Still, as they say: that doesn't mean he has to _like_ it.

"Aren't we?"

Rush isn't bothered by the occasional need to, say, slightly adjust the truth. It's a matter of efficiency - expediency, even; the best thing to say under any circumstances is the thing that will accomplish your goal.

Keeping quiet here, he estimates, should work out nicely.

"Another game, then?" It's a ritual, by now; it's chess night and there's still time.

"Strategy," Rush says.

"That's what the game's about, isn't it?" Young says. "Civilized warfare."

"The game's about what any game is about." What life itself is about, some might say, although Rush is not among them. "Winning. Making someone else lose."

"Or we could say a game is only a game."

"I believe that is what I just said."

 

Chess is not about luck, and this is why Rush likes it - even when it's so very hard to find an opponent against whom he actually needs to _think_.

Luck, naturally, is often as not merely a variable most people lack the wits to calculate, but even so.

"The strategic choice would be to move my knight _there_. So how about I move it to _here_ , instead?"

"It would work better if you hadn't just told me there is no process of rational decision making behind your actions whatsoever," Rush says.

"Maybe that's simply what I want you to think," Young says.

It's probably the slight buzz of the alcohol that startles a chuckle out of Rush. "You're trying to play mindgames?"

"Well, obviously I realize those are more your style. Still."

"Still," Rush echoes.

"Is it working?"

"No."

 

"So what I think Rush meant was - " Eli says, and Rush is tempted to walk right on by for a moment. Eli would probably still stop talking, though.

"Yes?" 

They're the peanut gallery, basically. Minus the peanuts. Plus the every now and then benefit of serving as an audience, a public, a group of witnesses.

"When Colonel Young plays chess, he bases his decisions on, well, the best thing to do."

"Naturally," Brody says.

"Obviously," Volker says. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Well, yes. But sometimes, the best thing to do actually _isn't_ the best thing to do. Because the person opposite from you? They _know_ what the best thing for you to do is. So, you know. Do you really want to be that predictable?"

"If it's the best thing to do," Volker says.

"You mean like: long-term, short-term," Brody says. "Get a better position _now_ , or get a better position five minutes from now."

Grossly oversimplified, but essentially correct. "Yeah," Eli says. "That."

"But then, wouldn't the best thing to do _not_ be the best thing to do anymore?" Volker asks.

"Well, that's the tricky part, see? To be able to make that difference?"

"So basically Rush is just better at chess."

"Or better at being unpredictable."

"Fair enough."

 

"It's only a game, Scott. If winning eight chess matches in a row is what it takes to keep Rush happy, then I'd call that a small price and one that I am more than willing to pay."

"With all due respect, sir, from over here, it pretty much looked like he was kicking your ass."

"Your point, lieutenant?"

"Are you really okay with letting him think he beat you?"

"Absolutely. Any other questions?"

"Why?"

"Because no matter what anyone says, it's still a game. Nobody got hurt. Because it's two hours of knowing exactly where Rush is and what he's doing. Because I want people to see we've made our peace."

"So you're saying it's a necessary evil."

"I'd say that's Rush in a nutshell."

"Probably also how he thinks about us."

"I wouldn't presume to guess."


End file.
